Thoughtful Photo Projects: War, Rockabillies, Children and Family Life

Some links I've been meaning to pass on, featuring interesting projects and work from lesser-known but talented photographers:

* Photojournalist Bruce Connew's bracing black and white photo-essay addressing the ravages of war, memories, mental illness and much more from the Balkans, Press Escape to Cancel.

Bruce Connew image, from Press Escape to Cancel

* Danish photojournalist Erik Refner has several interesting projects on his website -- the highlight for me was his 42 photo tour de force (in both B&W and color) "Rockabillies", on rockabilly culture and revivalists. There's also interesting and moving photojournalism from Africa and Afghanistan to be found among the numerous projects on his website, but the Rockabillies project is the most extensive and personal.

Erik Refner image, from Rockabilly series

* New York based photographer Nicholas Prior has the typical diverse grab bag of projects associated with an emerging photographer, but the projects show a bit more originality, thoughtfulness, and delicacy in presentation, especially relative to the typical aspiring commercial photographer. "The Age of Man" is a series of moody tableaux featuring children, "Feast and Famine" features sepia toned photographs of celebrity fanatics with the celebrities chopped from the pictures, and "Jazz" has some nice portraits of notable jazz musicians in performance in New York City clubs.

Nicholas Prior image, from "Age of Man"

* Todd Deutsch has been a frequent visitor to this site, and it's been a pleasure to reciprocate and peruse his understated but evocative documentation of his family, in black and white and color. I especially like the early pictures, but the everyday picture project contains many intriguing glimpses into the moods and ambience of family life and growing up.